Greek Architecture PDF

Greece Introduction: Migrating Dorians and Ionians, actually invading brought into Greece their own systems of wood building but have also seemed to have absorbed Aegean architecture and Egyptian design. Temples: The greek temple developed from Aegean architecture, with a main room was the palace...

Greece Introduction: Migrating Dorians and Ionians, actually invading brought into Greece their own systems of wood building but have also seemed to have absorbed Aegean architecture and Egyptian design. Temples: The greek temple developed from Aegean architecture, with a main room was the palace house of God. Characteristics: Gabled roof: The closely spaced columns support short stone lintels with a gabled roof above. The portion of the front or side of a building enclosed by or masking the end of a pitched roof. A decorative member suggesting a gable. Entablature: The band of lintels forms an Entablature carved with details that suggest the end of the wooden rafters. These temples were strictly used for ceremonial purposes. That is the reason why its design is limited to a narrow range of variations on a formula. Cella: The enclosed space of the temple, usually one or two rooms dedicated to god or goddesses as a symbolic home. Peristyle: The striking visible form of the building comes from the surrounding Peristyle of columns, usually six or eight at the gabled front and rear. With additional rows of colums along each side, making up a total surround of rhythmic repetition. Orders: Doric and Ionic Doric: The oldest and most admired, uses a column with no base that rises from top of a three stepped platform (the stylobate) to a simple Capital made up of a round Echinus with a square block or Abacus above. The column is tapered from bottom to top with a slight curvature or Entasis. The Entablature band above is made up of three parts; a plain Architrave; a Frieze made up of alternating panels – the Triglyphs that recall wooden rafter ends, and the blank or sculptured Metopes between; and above projecting Cornice or crowning element. Detail of the West metopes, illustrating the current condition of the temple in detail after 2,500 years of war, pollution, erratic conservation, pillage and vandalism. Use of Golden 1:1.618 ratio for the mean proportions can be seen perfectly in The Parthenon at Athens, planned with two interior spaces. Refinements: The Parthenon temple displays subtle departures from strict regularity called refinements that are characteristic of most Greek temples. There were slight shifts, like platforms bent upwards in slight curvature, columns lean slightly inwards and the lines of the entablature also curved. Optically making straight lines seem to curve and vertical to lean which can be called humane introducing aesthetic quality to the building. Ionic Order: The Ionic order uses a column taller and thinner and is most clearly identified by its capital with its twin scroll form Volutes. It is considered more gentle, perhaps more feminine than the austerity of the Doric. It is the most ornate of the three orders. Third one being Corinthian we will talk later about. Ionic Order An order of classical Greek architecture characterized by two opposed volutes in the capital. This style developed among the Ionians who had settled in Asia Minor in the 5C BC and was considered a feminine style. Its delicate grace and rich ornament contrasted with the austere strength of the Doric order. Its main characteristics are tall slim columns with 24 flutes resting on molded bases and crowned bt capitals in the form of a double scroll; an entablature consisting of an architrave, a continuous sculpted frieze and a cornice decorated with egg and dart and leaf and dart molding; a pediment with "acroteria" shaped like palm leaves at the angles. The best example is the temple of Athena Nike in the Acropolis. The ornamental details, the moldings have been given names like bead and reel or egg and dart, bands of carved Dentils or Greek key ornament. Bead-and-reel A convex molding having the form of disks alternating with spherical or elongated beads. Egg-and-dart A molding consisting of egg-shaped figures alternating with arrow heads. Cornice (KOR nis) A decorative molded projection at the top of a wall, window or construction. The upper part of an entablature. Raking Cornice The sloping sides of a pediment. Dentil (Root: "dent" means tooth) A small rectangular block used in a series forming a molding under a cornice. Pediment (PED a ment) In classical architecture a low-pitched triangular gable above a facade, or a smaller version over porticos above the doorway or above a window. Fret A decorative design contained within a band or border, consisting of repeated, often geometric figures. Also called "key pattern." Volute (va LOOT) A spiral scroll on an Ionic capital; smaller versions appear on Ionic Internally many greek temples only the simple single room of the megaron house, but some larger temples have internal rows of columns supporting a Mezzanine or balcony with an upper range of columns supporting the roof above. Secular Interiors: The greek open air theatre with seats arranged in semi circle about a circular Orchestra that served as its stage. Towns included a central open square, the Agora, for market and general meeting areas. The Stoa at the edges of agora to provide shelter. The Andron a kind of vestibuled space typically for men to use or owner if the house and friends. Beyond the open court is surrounded by Oecus an all purpose living and work space, a kithchen and beyond that bedrooms all forming the area primarily used by women and children. Terracotta bathtubs were common. Rooms were generally plain with white painted walls and floors with tamped earth or sometimes of tile. No furniture survives, but paintings on vases and other ceramics give us the idea of their design Klismos chair: the seat is an open square of wooden members webbed with some material probably leather. Both front and bank legs take a strong outward curve. From about 323 BC theatres, temples and monuments became larger and richer, ornamental more complex. Terms: Abacus (AB a kis, a BACK is) A slab on the top of a capital of a column. Architrave (AR ka trave) The lowest of the 3 main parts of an entablature: the undecorated lintel resting on the columns. Bead-and-reel A convex molding having the form of disks alternating with spherical or elongated beads. Capital The head or crowning feature of a column or pilaster. Caryatid Sculpted female figure used in place of a column to support an entablature. Column A supporting pillar usually consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft, and a capital. Corinthian Order The most ornate of the five classical orders, characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate, bell-shaped capital decorated with acanthus leaves. Cornice (KOR nis) A decorative molded projection at the top of a wall, window or construction. The upper part of an entablature. Raking Cornice The sloping sides of a pediment. Dentil (Root: "dent" means tooth) A small rectangular block used in a series forming a molding under a cornice. Doric Order The oldest and simplest of the three orders of clasical Greek architecture, characterized by heavy, fluted columns with plain saucer-shaped capitals and no base. Developed on the mainland among the Dorian people and was the most common style in Greece from the 7C onwards. The columns, which had twenty flutes (see below) rested directly on the stylobate without bases; the capitals were plain. the entablature consisted of three parts, one above the other: the architrave, the frieze and the cornice. Drop Small drop-like projections carved below a triglyph or below a Doric entablature. Also called a "gutta." Echinus (i KY nis) A convex molding just below the abacus of a Doric capital. Egg-and-dart A molding consisting of egg-shaped figures alternating with arrow heads. Entablature The upper part of an order, consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice Entasis (en TAY sis) The very slight convex curve used on Greek and later columns to correct the optical illusion of concavity which would result if the sides were straight. Also used on spires and other structures for the same reason. Fluting (FLOO ting) A decorative motif consisting of a series of uniform, usually vertical, flutes (grooves). Fret A decorative design contained within a band or border, consisting of repeated, often geometric figures. Also called "key pattern." Frieze (freez) The plain or decorated horizontal part of an entablature between the cornice and the architrave. Gutta (GUT a) Plural: guttae (GUT ee) Small drop-like projections carved below a triglyph or below a Doric entablature. Also called a "drop." Ionic Order An order of classical Greek architecture characterized by two opposed volutes in the capital. This style developed among the Ionians who had settled in Asia Minor in the 5C BC and was considered a feminine style. Its delicate grace and rich ornament contrasted with the austere strength of the Doric order. Its main characteristics are tall slim columns with 24 flutes resting on molded bases and crowned bt capitals in the form of a double scroll; an entablature consiting of an architrave, a continuous sculpted frieze and a cornice decorated with egg and dart and leaf and dart molding; a pediment with "acroteria" shaped like palm leaves at the angles. The best example is the temple of Athena Nike in the Acropolis. Leaf-and-dart Ornamentation. Lintel (LIN tl) The horizontal beam that forms the upper member of a window or door frame and supports the structure  above it. Metope (MET a pee) Any of the spaces between two triglyphs on a Doric frieze. Modillion (mo DILL yin) An ornamental bracket, usually in the form of a scroll with acanthus, used in series beneath a Corinthian, Composite, or Roman Ionic cornice. 1 Pediment (PED a ment) In classical architecture a low-pitched triangular gable above a facade, or a smaller version over porticos above the doorway or above a window. A triangular gable end of the roof above the horizontal cornice, often with sculpture. Peristyle A series of columns surrounding a building or enclosing a court. Pilaster (pi LAS ter) A shallow rectangular column projecting only slightly from a wall and, in classical architecture, conforming with one of the orders. Rosette (row ZET) A rose-shaped patera. In the illustration, there is a rosette in the middle of the quatrefoil. Stylobate (STEYE low bate) A course of masonry forming the foundation for a row columns, esp. the outermost colonnade of a classical temple. Triglyph (TRY glif) Ornament in a Doric frieze, consisting of raised blocks of three vertical bands separated by V-shaped grooves, alternating with plain or sculptured panels called metopes. Tympanum (TIM pa nim) The ornamental recessed space or panel enclosed by the molding of a pediment. Also the space between an arch and the lintel of a door or window. Volute (va LOOT) A spiral scroll on an Ionic capital; smaller versions appear on Ionic, Composite and Corinthian capitals.